And that’s OK with many drivers as long as the track doesn’t come apart. It will make the Quaker State 400 on Saturday night a challenge. It also can even out the competition because going fast is not just about aerodynamics and engines, it’s suspension and brakes and a driver finding the bumpy line that works best for the car.

“It’s kind of a one-off race with its own set of setup issues,” Kurt Busch said. “You can over-think Kentucky a little bit because there’s nothing similar to it.”

The track, which is playing host to its fourth Sprint Cup race, has not been repaved since opening in 2001.

It likely will need repaving soon — Blaney said some grinding apparently done around the start-finish line has not made it any smoother — but the drivers would rather have the challenge of a bumpy track than one where the track is so smooth that Goodyear struggles to find a tire with normal wear while also avoiding blistering.

“It’s really, really bumpy, so it’s a struggle to get the car to go through the bumps really well,” Tony Stewart said. “It’s bumpier than anywhere that we go as far as mile-and-a-halves are concerned.

“But that’s what’s fun about it, too, is that it’s got character and makes us have to work on making it go through the bumps better.”

While several tracks have bumps in a turn or in one lane, the bumps at Kentucky are virtually unavoidable.

“It’s kind of neat because it’s an obstacle and it’s something you have to overcome and get your car to ride those bumps good and keep those tires on the ground,” Bowyer said. “So much of what we do anymore is focused on aero and a lot of that means you really have to have a pretty stiff setup underneath it and those tires don’t like that.

“They bounce up and down on that rough stuff so you have to go back to some mechanical grip and get some suspension back underneath of it and get you some grip.”

But there needs to be enough mechanical strength that the car lasts.

“I broke a wheel there last time so it’s pretty rough,” Bowyer teammate Brian Vickers said. “I like tracks with some bumps and some character. It’s so rough on the straightaways and your head is moving around so much and I get a headache.”